Welcome to the house of fun: It's Madness as Chelsea dance to a happy beat

They save the delirious abandon of Madness’s One Step Beyond for special celebrations at Chelsea: a victory over Manchester United, progress to the Champions League final.

Never has it been received with as much euphoria as on Sunday, though. For once, the sentiment that introduces Chelsea’s party anthem rang true.

‘Don’t watch that, watch this,’ implores Madness singer Chas Smash, before unleashing the nuttiest sound around, and that has been the greatest achievement of Carlo Ancelotti this season.

On top of the world: Chelsea have broken records on-route to their third Premier League triumph

Not just that he has won the title at the first attempt, all the time working with the knowledge that no Chelsea manager has received a second chance if unable to deliver for Roman Abramovich in his first season, but that he has done it while making Chelsea the team to watch.

On several occasions this season, Chelsea have simply gone nuts and it has been a delight to watch.

Sunday was one of those occasions; never has a title been won so emphatically.

Chelsea have enjoyed success under previous managers in the modern era, but never on these terms. This was their biggest victory under Ancelotti, but also the fourth time in this League campaign they have scored seven or more.

Their total of 103 League goals makes them the first team to reach three figures in the Premier League era, and the first to break 100 since Tottenham scored 111 in 1962-63, inspired by new signing Jimmy Greaves. Tottenham came second to Everton that year, so it is not only about scoring goals, either.

Equally significant was a fifth clean sheet in the final six games, including the FA Cup semi-final with Aston Villa. Petr Cech made his best — his only — save of the game with two minutes remaining.

John Terry chipped in with his trademark brand of defiance in the tackle. Even eight goals to the good, Chelsea did not let their standards drop.

As Stamford Bridge bounced, some 200 miles north a man in a sober overcoat was thanking Manchester United’s supporters for cheering the team to second place.

Sir Alex Ferguson knew only a point separated the clubs, but it may as well have been a canyon.

United have mounted the best defence of three consecutive titles in the history of English football, but it was not enough.

Their record of three straight wins, shared with a previous Manchester United team, plus Huddersfield from the Twenties, Arsenal from the Thirties and Liverpool from the Eighties, stands, but by heck United came close this time.

To take Chelsea to the last day of the season, no matter how stridently the final battle was won, was a remarkable achievement.

For the record, Huddersfield finished two wins and a draw behind Newcastle United in 1926-27, Arsenal came sixth in 1935-36, Liverpool were 13 points short of Everton in 1984-85 and Manchester United 10 behind champions Arsenal, with Liverpool the runners-up, in 2001-02.

Right at home: Carlo Ancelotti now stands in Chelsea's history in his own right, rather than in the shadow of Mourinho and Hiddink

The margin this season is a single point. Had Chelsea only drawn at Old Trafford on April 3, Manchester United would have won the League. Had United scored a single goal against Blackburn the following week, Ferguson would have been celebrating through the night.

Instead, it was the modest, likeable Ancelotti, who was already complaining of a fuzzy head in his post-match conference — and comically grimacing at the taste of a further glass of red provided in the press room — and citing the second game between the clubs as the turning point of the season.

‘When we won in Manchester it sent our confidence up and I think pushed United’s a little bit down,’ he said.

No bad judge. Defeat by Bayern Munich and the draw at Blackburn followed immediately on from that result and Ferguson thinks that was the week United’s season fell apart, too.

In essence it was doomed long before. The day the club sold Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid the defence of the title was made immeasurably harder.

During the Jose Mourinho era at Chelsea, the biggest problem for United was matching the goals scored by Frank Lampard from midfield.

Then Ronaldo hit his stride, on one occasion with 42 goals in a single season, and United won the League each time. Without him, Lampard has reclaimed his status as the most significant player in the Premier League.

It is not that Manchester United do not have a great goalscorer. Wayne Rooney has been exceptional this season and unless hampered by injury in the final weeks would no doubt have comfortably broken through the 30-goals barrier.

The problem was that Chelsea had a rough match in Didier Drogba, whose three goals on Sunday made him the top Premier League goalscorer with 29 goals.

Goal machine: Frank Lampard has been at his imperious goalscoring best again this season

Where United had no answer to Chelsea, by contrast, was in finding an equal of Lampard, who finished with 26 goals from the heart of midfield.

Ronaldo used to rival him, often outstrip him, as a goalscorer but this season United’s midfield players have been required to form alliances of four or more just to cancel out his total.

Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Luis Antonio Valencia, Darren Fletcher and Ji-Sung Park would have to club together to tally one more than Lampard. The most prolific midfielder for Manchester United has scored seven times, Lampard has scored more than that this season just in games against Aston Villa and Stoke City.

The second highest goalscorer for United this time has been the collectively unfortunate members of the opposition. Dimitar Berbatov, a £30m signing, has been outgunned by own goals.

It is for Manchester United to respond in the summer, for just as Arsene Wenger changed the culture of Arsenal from one that celebrated the one-nil win to one that thrilled to the beautiful game, so Ancelotti has made Chelsea a compelling force this season.

Out-gunned: Dimitar Berbatov has continued his indifferent form at United, with the opposition contributing as many goals as the Bulgarian

He is a good guy, shorn of the Machiavellian instincts of a certain predecessor, and his football reflects that simple joy.

It is not often that United are out-dazzled, but Chelsea’s goal difference this season is plus 71, compared to United’s plus 58. And they beat their rivals home and away.

We heard a lot about game-changing moments in the build-up to the general election, and the game-changer in this Premier League campaign has been Chelsea’s emergence as entertainers. That is down to Ancelotti.

John Terry spoke of the Italian allowing Chelsea to play with a free spirit and it certainly looked that way on Sunday.

Scoring early, after less than six minutes, and seeing Wigan Athletic reduced to 10 men with more than an hour remaining would have helped ease the tension, but there is no doubt Chelsea have learned to play in a more expansive fashion than in previous successful campaigns.

The negativity of the Mourinho years is greatly exaggerated — Chelsea defeated Manchester United 3-0 here in 2006 to win their second consecutive title — but while Ancelotti maintains his priority is to win, he has introduced a certain style to the process.

Mourinho’s Chelsea could without doubt have beaten teams by six or seven, but often chose not to, conserving their energy and settling for a less eye-catching exhibition. This team takes it potential to the limit. They go, as the song says, one step beyond.

As will Ancelotti, if he gets heavy, heavy on Mourinho again, bringing the first Double to Stamford Bridge by beating Portsmouth in the FA Cup final on Saturday.